The REAL Reason Why Music Is Getting Worse?

[@VoyageOne1]

I don’t miss overpaying for albums with only one good song and a dozen stinkers

[@guslauzon2513]

I've watched Rick Beato for a long time. You're right he is an incredible wealth of music knowledge. I have heard little new music that is usable for me as a DJ. The only place I could see using new music is school dance. Unfortunately not my bread and butter.

[@bitterXboifren]

this era of bass music is way beyond 10 years ago

[@pascalhibon7928]

I stopped DJing ages ago due to the fact that music was getting bad. I just couldn't bring myself to purchase the crappy music that came out and lost intrest. The decline in music quality is not a new thing; this has been a gradual thing. And yes, Rick has a point: progress put music making tools in the hands of everyone. The scene gets flooded by bad music which makes it hard to detect / find the great music stuff. Streaming services are also a part of the issue. Streaming services turned music into a consumable that gets trashed after some time. That's one of the reasons why I still buy physical music formats. The way you deal with streaming (consumable) as opposed to physical music formats is totally different. It is far easy to rediscover an album that one owns on a physical format. With streaming you just forget about it and move on the the next piece of consumable. I still buy new music but the volume of the new music I buy has been declining big time. That is a result of the above. Good thing that the music industry re-issues "old" music these days. That provides me with the opportunity to access music I somehow missed in the past or didn't had the money to buy at that time.

[@pipsic]

2 of my favorite YT channels, BSR & Rick Beato. Must be I'm real Gen X specimen:) You are right about DJ's. They never talk about music. Sad.

[@briansredd]

It's telling, anyway. We're probably not all in this for the same reasons. Most DJs I talk to think I'm some kind of savant when it comes to knowing songs & artists. I thought that was just part of the deal.

[@bmdiz]

Great video Brian. Once again, you've hit a homerun when it comes to music then and now.

[@soundrevolutionmobiledisco5941]

I am always hunting for DJs actually discussing music. Gear is fine, the life is fine, but music is what it is all about. I spend as much time as possible looking into old and new tracks and listening to the radio. I find taking requests massively helpful as they can reveal some awesome tracks I might bot have come across. I make sure I save them back for future plays. Music is why we are all doing this.

[@MrDJMikieMike]

There are very little if any true Musicians today. Today anyone can be a singer with all the effects that can be added make them sound perfect.

[@thefamily6221]

Yes I saw both of them in the same room together, they are one in the same person,they’re not fooling us 😂😅😊

[@petermartin1585]

I totally agree with this guy, what he says is perfectly true. I grew up in the 70s with the radio, and Sunday afternoon was the top 20 rundown. There was great music. And presenters that told you who recorded the track. And told us all about the music. Not anymore. All we get is adverts.competitions. traffic reports and boring chats with members of the public on the phone. When are the presenters going to produce there own programmes. Get on and produce an interesting and entertaining programme not this boring crap we are subjected too.

[@simonblack301]

Like you (assumption) I am on the tail end of Xers. I think you and Beato make many good points. I DJ open format out in Bars about once a month. Many Millenials and Zoomers are there. I would suggest that TikTok and Instagram Reels are the main new music exposure channels for the younger gens (sort of like our MTV). New shows like Stranger Things as well. Younger gens know a wider range of music bc when a song is released is not directly correlated with its popularity on the new channels. I simply try to keep my finger on that pulse and chat with many peeps of those ages to be relevant in almost 2025. Keep up the great content!

[@kkmusic607]

Great video, speaking the truth about the music/DJ scene! Thank you for what you do.

[@bitterXboifren]

having to buy an album to find out all the songs except the one sucks can stay in the past

[@djsirroundsound1301]

We still have all the old music. But we now have better music from artists that are not tainted and controlled by the big record companies ( like in the past when we got mostly the crap the big companies put out ) small artists are making a living from KZbin and Spotify! Taylor is huge because she is a lyrical genius her music is full of double entendres. And she puts on extravagances Now many of the artists can actually create their own record label. We have many new genres and blurred lines between genres and artists jumping from genre to genre. But i guess I don’t really know much I was only born in the 1970 listening to al Jolson, vera Lynn, Pete seeger, Elvis Presley, buddy holly, james Taylor,kool moe dee, schooly d, grand master flash madonna, ozzy, elton john…….. etc… Now its micheal buble, Ren , Imelda May, john craigie, NF, jelly roll, knox Hill, chapel hart, taylor swift, classified, Brett Dennen…… etc And what people are talking about I guess depends on your algorithm, cause in my feeds on social media Music and hockey are the top topics! And you can easily go down all kinds of musical rabbit holes, and thats just on your phone while you’re getting other stuff done around the house!

[@djductape]

Great points.

[@franklove]

It's the fragmented way we listen to music now. As a 56-year-old who doesn't understand why Gen z's fascinated with Charli XCX. In some ways music is better. It's just a hard as hell time for a DJ now to please everybody. And playing for everybody makes the set sort of lame. I really don't have a solution accepts we all will just have to ride it out and see what happens.

[@lipfunction]

i don't participate in streaming, still buy cds and have casually kept up with new music for the past 20 years. doesn't seem to me that music is getting worse. not sure how to measure it though. all i know is i'm still hearing great music! mostly in the field of electronic music and "indie" rock

[@lipfunction]

although i do share the overall impression that music isn't really perceived as "important" as it used to in the past. i've never been really sure how to articulate it but i think i agree with what you are saying there, seems in general alot of folk don't really "care" as much about music

[@DJmicaiah]

I stopped listening to “Pop” music myself back in the early 2000s. The classics will always be the classics and as a mobile DJ I have all the music the masses want to hear but as for me and myself I always have to find new music and I pretty much listen to EDM and electronic solely, always searching out new high energy dance and workout music. I also produce my own tracks with GarageBand on my iPhone and Logic Pro but just for fun. I understand that real musicians hate on electronic producers but really if music sounds good then it is music. Furthermore you can’t make real music today without computers! You need them for mastering and mixing and there are sounds and techniques and samplers and instruments that you can create electronically that would never be able to be re-created on a live physical instrument😮. And I am constantly finding new favorites and I share them with my family and friends and I do still talk about music but it is newer and usually electronic. Plus musicians now are so political and divisive and usually they rely on their past old hits and tour until they are skeletons playing their old stuff that people really get sick of them saying vote for one person while they live in there protected mansions taking their private jets.

[@scotthadlow1761]

Interesting topic...I think the fall of the music industry was the introduction of napster and the fact that people believed that music became free. Artists now have to tour in order to make money. Oh how the times have reversed. I like all music so for me it's ok but I get that there is alot of stuff I'm not interested in listening to. But good music is still coming .. but your right it's being reinvented

[@stuartpaul9211]

everything has already been done. now its either a variation or a reboot.

[@TheRealNewBlackMusic]

Love and hate them, politicians are the new rock stars! 🤪

[@_P_M_]

Napster certainly played a big part in making music unprofitable. People making music cheaply and quickly in DAW's and uploading to Soundcloud or KZbin has played a big part in creating new music. Songs don't have to really be great anymore they just need to be interesting enough to hold your attention for 1min 30sec. That said, I've only been DJing a year after living under a rock since probably 2003. I had no idea who Pitbull or Flo Rida, or Kanye were. I played in bands all throughout the 80's and 90's, so that's the music I know best. Yet I've managed to find all kinds of music from the past 20 years that I really like. It's maybe not at the level of the Police, or Floyd or Prince or Simple Minds, etc, but I still enjoy it. However, there is A TON of 'junk food music' out there now. Again, anyone with a cracked copy of FL Studio and an internet connection can make this stuff now so it makes sense that the signal to noise ratio is going to be lower. It's more about promotion than content. And as Rick said, it's very easy to consume. You don't have to go to the record store and actively seek music. The challenge for me as a DJ is trying to understand where people go to discover new music and what draws them to it?

[@highlandpiper2813]

Music used to be a way to get the truth, and now the truth seems to be lost in mediocre, repetitive lyrics, and very basic repetitive rhythms…

[@mikewood9514]

There are still great bands and music out there. Its obvious that the older you get the less you will talk about it. Remember as a teen how you always spoke about music and gigs etc? But then you had kids etc etc. Sorry to hear that.hahaha

[@danwhite7629]

The real reason that music is getting worse in my opinion, is that our civilization has already peaked & now we are in a period of slow decline. Think about it, it's not just music that is getting worse. For example, the greatest buildings this civilization will build have already been built. See the Taj Mahal, Westminster Abbey or Sagrada Familia. Yes technolgy has advanced & amazing buildings will still be created, but will any of them ever be seen as a "wonder of the world"?! The same can be said of art/paintings. Will we ever see another artist as important as say, Da Vinci or Van Gogh? Of course, society nowadays is advancing in other ways, but I'm not sure these ways are particually condusive to art/beauty.

[@briansredd]

I think you are talking about Post-Modernism. That's been a thing for a long, long time where art kinda starts to repeat itself

[@bitterXboifren]

@@danwhite7629 music is better you jist have to look harder for it which takes some level of of savvy to even begin

[@danwhite7629]

@@bitterXboifren Mate, I am a huge music collecter. I look in all corners at all genres of new music being created. It objectively is not "better" now. No modern band will be as timeless or inportant as say, The Beatles. No techno artist will be as important as Juan Atkins, No classical composer will be as important as Motzart etc etc.

[@danwhite7629]

@@briansredd To a degree yeah that's what I'm talking about. But I think it's bigger than that. We know that historically civizations grow, peak & decline and ours I presume in the end will be no different.

[@bitterXboifren]

@danwhite7629 blah blah blah, just say you don't lile or understand progress. the Beatles being timeless has more to do with the music industry that music itself. they're essentially a boy band.

[@dj631]

Could have told u this years ago 😅

[@Burnt-ve8bv]

Here's the thing... we're dead. All of us. The whole world completely vaporized instantly from events of unknown origin that took place in 2010. All this is our consciousness uploaded into a server somewhere playing out in a computer generated simulation created by AI. There has been no music made since 2010 and AI was never capable of producing songs viable with emotion. So at nightclubs we still hear Kanye ect.

[@oldschooldjernie]

100%.... I hear "September" and " Yeah" at every wedding. Whats funny is that mobile dj's love updating their equipment only to play songs that are 25-50 years old. Very sad.

[@KedmisonTN]

Science and math is the problem. It's inevitable. Take the numbers 1,2.3. They can only be displayed 9 different ways without repeating. Now take 88 keys on the piano. EVENTUALY every possible combination will be played. I know the number is astronomical, but the best combinations have already been used.

[@briansredd]

I understand the Mathematical argument. Mine is artistic. If Fats Domino never did Blueberry Hill, lots of other songs would have never happened, like Toto Hold The Line. Speaking of Toto, If The Knack never did My Sharona, Quincy Jones would have never had Toto put together a song like that for Michael Jackson (Beat It). So yes, mathematically, there are only so many note & key combinations, BUT within those combinations lies even more tempo combos, instruments to play them on & how they are played. Even The Beatles were openly using riffs & even lyrics from those that inspired them. There's a LOT of Chuck Barry in there, but you have to listen for it.

[@arnoldmulder9482]

Yess.. modern producer music sucks. Too much too easy. We need the bands! The real musicians. No computer geeks. This coming from an old fart.

[@DoreenWeed]

You forgot Freddie Mercury and Queen. ABBA. The 70's and 80's.

[@voiceoverguy36]

i agree Music sucks now! Alternative music sucks! It sounds like rap and pop music! So, there for, no Alternative Rock Format!

[@djpaulthompson]

did you recover ya FB page

[@briansredd]

No, started a new one

[@mkj9374]

Great video and have to agree. I think what confuses me about today's music is the amount of remix's there are for dance tunes. I get bogged down in the choices. I heard a Beatles tune the other day, it was pure, simple and fantastic, no remix, no messing, just pure joy.